Attempts to provide consumers with dispensable products having superior quality require thorough investigation of consumer habits pertaining to consumption of such products. Such consumer-dispensable products include, but are not limited to: various disposable woven and non-woven products (napkins, facial tissue, towels, diapers, wipes, cosmetic pads, etc.); various liquid and non-liquid food products such as beverages, coffee, shortening, butter, grains, sugar, and other granular-like products; various personal-hygiene products such as bath soap, shampoo, tooth paste, deodorant, sanitary napkins, tampons, etc.; various laundry and cleaning products such as dish-washing soap, detergent, fabric softeners, and the like, and various medication products. Typically, these dispensable products are supplied in stacks (paper products), boxes or bags (grains, sugar, dry detergents), jars or cans (coffee, grains), bottles including spray-bottles (liquid food products, liquid detergents, hair spray), and other packaging which allows convenient dispensing of a portion of the product, as desired.
Current methods of monitoring consumer habits of consumption of the consumable products which normally include one-at-a-time dispensing of the product's portion traditionally rely on research questionnaires and handwritten diary-type studies. The typical questions in such questionnaires pertain to the detailed information regarding consumption of the product and other data related to consumer dispensing patterns. Traditional written questionnaire-like methods of collecting such information are expensive, time-consuming, and burdensome for both a manufacturer of the product and a consumer. Moreover, the traditional written questionnaire-like methods of collecting the data pertaining to patterns of consumption and usage of dispensable products may result in unnatural habit changes during a test period. Furthermore, the use of the traditional diary-type studies has a significant potential for a human error regarding details of dispensing such as, for example, time of the dispensing, amount/dosage of the product being dispensed and so on. Therefore, the limits of accuracy and consistency of the data collected by the traditional means affect the reliability of the interpretation of the collected data.
What is needed is a novel and efficient way of obtaining, in a manner which is not burdensome for a consumer, accurate information regarding patterns of the consumer consumption of dispensable products. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a monitor for collecting data regarding patterns of consumer consumption of dispensable products.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process of collecting and recording accurate information regarding patterns of the consumer consumption of such dispensable products.